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who is a disciple?

4/30/2015

Recently Penny and I had some very exciting news. A good friend and former colleague of ours, Alison White, is to become Bishop of Hull in England: the second female bishop in the Church of England. (That’s Alison in the picture there…and that’s Alison with the Archbishop of York who has appointed her, and with her husband Frank, my former social responsibility boss and the current Assistant Bishop of Newcastle). Even more excitingly, for me at least, Alison’s consecration will be in York Minister on 3 July: a day in which I will be staying close by with my parents. Happily, Alison says I can get hold of a ticket for this great, and really quite historic, occasion.

It is a strange world, isn’t it? When we were colleagues in the diocese of Durham, I once remember Alison coming to visit and saying that, as Local Mission Adviser to the diocese, she felt that she then had the very best job in the Church of England. Well, I remember responding, that can’t be right, because I feel that, in my role as Vicar of St James & St Bede Gateshead, I have the best job in the Church of England! Now she’s about to have a new job, and, for myself, why, I’ve probably now got one of the best jobs in the Anglican Church of Australia! For being a disciple of Christ, you see, may lead us into all kinds of different roles and places.

Perhaps that is part of the point of marking the feast of Saint Philip and St James today. For who are St Philip and St James?...

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shepherding with tender love

4/24/2015

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Jesus is the good shepherd. Hopefully we all know that. Those of us who went to Sunday school learnt this in the first lesson. And our churches are filled with stained glass depictions of Jesus as the good shepherd and some are even called The Good Shepherd church.

I have three questions today. Firstly do you recognise yourself as a sheep that Jesus cares for with tenderness and compassion? Secondly, as we are Christ's body the church, what is it like for the church to be a good shepherd, and in fact how good are we at loving one another as Jesus commanded? Finally as those who exercise the love of the good shepherd in the world what are we doing to enable those who are not of our own fold still to hear the shepherd's voice?...

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resurrection - learning to be more than ghosts

4/19/2015

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‘The difference’, said Anna, ‘between a person and an angel is easy. Most of an angel is in the inside and most of a person is on the outside.’

That is just one of the wonderful words of wisdom in the marvellous little book ‘Mister God, This is Anna’. Do you know it? It is a wonderful read. Published in 1970, we now know it to have been written by Syd Hopkins, a man who grew up in the poverty of the pre-second world war East End of London and who suffered physically and mentally for many years. Out of his experiences and reflections, he created a moving story which touches heart, mind and spirit. For, in brief, Mister God, This is Anna tells of the encounter of Fynn, the 19 year old author, with the five-year old Anna, a homeless waif. The book describes the bewitching thoughts, discoveries, analysis, and poetry of little Anna’s beautiful mind. Wise beyond her years, Anna has a special connection and relationship with her dear “Mister God” and God’s enchanting world, and she happily leads Fynn through a whirlwind of wonder and insight.

‘The difference’, said Anna, ‘between a person and an angel is easy. Most of an angel is in the inside and most of a person is on the outside.’ What is the child Anna saying to us, do you think?

Questioned by Fynn, she explains. There is a wholeness to angels: they are full of all the stuff angels are supposed to be full of: light and love and peace. Human beings however tend to be full of all kinds of holes. Some of these holes have names. The holes might be something like: a new dress, game, or car; a new house, job, or holiday; another drink, or drug; whatever it is that we happen to long for. Such things are outside ourselves. Whilst we think about, and give ourselves to them, most of our being is therefore outside ourselves. We are not full like angels. We are walking about with huge parts of ourselves missing. For, of course, even if we were to have the things which leave holes in us, we would still have other holes. For things, in themselves, cannot fill us up, like angels, with the life and light and joy which truly makes us whole...

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Thomas - doubter or fundamentalist?

4/10/2015

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"Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands…and put my hand in his side; I refuse to believe.” Thomas was after certainty wasn’t he?

Often we speak of ‘doubting’ Thomas. Yet the Thomas we encounter here is not so much doubting as demanding proof. There is an aggressiveness in his demand for sure proof that is disturbing, and is matched by the fervour of his response once proof is provided. ‘My Lord and my God’ he proclaims: the loftiest acclamation of Christ anywhere in the New Testament.

In terms of personality it would be more accurate to characterise Thomas as a fundamentalist than a doubter. For him things are very clear with no grey areas. Such clarity produces great zeal and a capacity for courageous and devoted service. It is also potentially very dangerous.

Today across our world we see an increase in fundamentalism. This is true alike of all the mainstream religions and also of liberal securalism. It is a human phenomenon of our times, arising at least in part in response to the uncertainties of the post modern era, with the rapid pace of change brought about by the technological revolution. Fearful of the attack on familiar elements of culture and the perceived rubbishing of important values many people are attracted by the simplicity and apparent clarity of a fundamentalist approach. We can recognise it in ourselves; and we can see it just as clearly in those who would outlaw all religion as having evil consequences as in those who see themselves engaged in ‘Holy War’...

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resurrection - re-entering the garden

4/5/2015

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by Jon Inkpin for Easter Sunday, 2015

I would like to ask three leading questions this morning.

The first question is: Does anyone here have a garden?...
What does it look like?   What do you do with it?
Do you realise we have a special garden – called a Quiet Garden – at St Mark’s? You might like to check it out sometime…
Gardens are so often a delight, aren’t they? – not least in this ‘Garden City’ of Toowoomba.

My second leading question is: Have you ever done anything wrong, or had something done to you, which was wrong, and which maybe made you feel bad or ashamed?... All of us I suspect!
Have you ever felt afraid, or suspicious too?    Have you ever felt betrayed, or been betrayed?
Again, all of us experience these things, don’t we?
This part of what Holy Week, and especially Good Friday, is all about, isn’t it? - facing up to our sin and shame, our fear, suspicion and betrayals. So what then is Easter about? – and what has it to do with a garden?   The answer is: a whole heap of beans, running over and flowing everywhere! When we see that our whole life is transformed, just like Mary Magdalene in our Gospel reading today: which leads to my third, and the most important, leading question of all in a moment…

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do we know what we are doing?

4/1/2015

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by Penny Jones, for Good Friday 2015

They crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

When we think of Jesus hanging there on the cross, I think the picture that most often comes to mind is the classic icon of the crucifixion, with the body of Jesus flanked by Mary and John – his mother and his most faithful disciple. It is the picture of course from the Gospel of John, which tells how Jesus gives His mother and His friend into one another’s care. Iconographers chose that image because it allowed them to place three holy figures, Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John in the one composition. As viewers we are drawn into this holy triad of figures, mutually supporting one another around the cross that brings salvation to the world. It is, like John’s gospel as a whole, an expression of the glorification of Christ on the cross. While it challenges our faithfulness, our ability like Mary and John to dwell with and in Christ in His moment of greatest need and greatest triumph, it does not fundamentally unsettle a view of the world in which good triumphs and evil is punished.

It is a picture very different from that which we just heard in the gospel of Luke. Throughout his gospel Luke tells of a God who, like the father in the story of the prodigal son, does not wait for reparation, does not demand punishment, but overwhelms his wayward child with love and forgiveness, no matter what. So here, as Jesus is nailed to the cross, he prays, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’” They do not know what they are doing’...

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who is a disciple?

shepherding with tender love

resurrection - learning to be more than ghosts

Thomas - doubter or fundamentalist?

resurrection - re-entering the garden

do we know what we are doing?

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